Important Laois photo archive digitised

Laois Local Studies have digitised an important photographic collection of images captured by the 5th Viscount de Vesci.

Ivo de Vesci succeeded his uncle John, the 4th Viscount de Vesci in 1903, inheriting the family estate in Abbeyleix. He was a prolific photographer and visually recorded all aspects of his life, including family, society, foreign travel and estate management. 

The collection, which spans over five decades, captures a period in which the local, social, political and economic landscape of Ireland was changing rapidly. It is a visual record of local and national significance. The collection, which is part of the De Vesci family archive, belongs to the 7th Viscount de Vesci, Tom de Vesci. 

Recognising the potential of Ivo’s collection for historical research, Tom de Vesci generously offered Laois Local Studies the opportunity to digitise the collection and make it available to the public through the Laois Local Studies Digital Archive. 

The project enhances access to the public of a privately held collection and ensures the survival of the images by creating a preservation copy digitally. Tom de Vesci is copyright owner of the Ivo de Vesci Collection and images cannot be reproduced without his permission. 

Ivo Richard Vesey was born on December 15, 1881, in Strand, Middlesex, England. He was the second son of Eustace Vesey and Constance Mary Lawley, becoming the eldest living son upon the death of his older brother Eustace Thomas Beilby Vesey in 1882.

Ivo was educated at Eton College. He joined the Irish Guards and attained the rank of Major before the First World War. During the war he saw active service in France and after some years, for medical reasons, was assigned to forestry duties in that country, where he gained the Agricultural Medal of France. His interest in forestry is reflected in his photographic collection, which contains many images of tree species.

In 1903 Ivo became the 5th Viscount de Vesci when he succeeded his uncle John, who died without a male heir. He married Georgiana Victoria Wellesley on April 24, 1906, in St Marylebone, Middlesex, England. The marriage was not a success and the couple parted within months before formally divorcing in 1919.

On May 15, 1920 Ivo married his second wife Frances Lois Parsons, widow of the 5th Earl of Rosse. As a keen amateur photographer, Ivo had much in common with the Parsons family, who lived in Birr Castle in Co Offaly.

The family are famous for their scientific genius. Best known for designing and building the giant telescope and inventing the steam turbine, family members also played an important role in the development of photography. The family feature in many of images in the collection.

Ivo died on August 16, 1958, at the age of 76, following a car crash in which he was seriously injured. He was buried in De Vesci Estate Church Cemetery, Abbeyleix. He was one of the last Representative Peers of Ireland, being elected in 1909. He was succeeded by his nephew John Eustace Vesey, the 6th Viscount de Vesci.